Phones continue to push forward in at least one area — battery life. Not only did we see a record-setting phone claim the title of best phone battery life to close out 2025, we tested two phones that broke through a long-standing barrier when it comes to our custom battery test.
When we review phones, we test their batteries by setting them to surf the web continuously over cellular until they run out of power. We’ve seen some impressive results in recent years, though no device has ever held out for more than 20 hours.
Longest-lasting phones of 2025: The top 5
- OnePlus 15: 25:13
- OnePlus 15R: 21:54
- Moto G 2026: 19:10
- Moto G Play 2026: 18:45
- iPhone 17 Pro Max 17:50
OnePlus 15 and OnePlus 15R: The future of battery life?
While OnePlus might not enjoy the same profile that phone makers like Samsung and Apple do, the Chinese company sets the pace when it comes to battery life. And there’s no better example than the OnePlus 15, which can comfortably offer two days of battery on a single charge.
In our test, the OnePlus 15 ran for 25 hours and 15 minutes, which exceeds the battery life of even the best gaming phones. Sure, the OnePlus 15 benefits from a super-sized 7,300 mAh power pack, but the reason that battery can pack in so much capacity without adding to the OnePlus 15’s 6.4 x 3 x 0.32-inch size is that OnePlus has turned to silicon-carbon technology. That translates to a more dense battery that packs a more powerful punch.
It’s not just the OnePlus 15 that benefits from the emerging battery technology. The midrange OnePlus 15R has a silicon-carbon battery, too — in fact, its 7,400 mAh power pack is slightly larger than the one in the flagship OnePlus 15.
The difference is that the OnePlus 15R uses a less powerful chipset that’s not as efficient managing power. As a result, it “only” lasts 21 hours and 54 minutes, still good enough to be runner-up on our best phone battery list both for this year and among every phones we’ve tested.
Both OnePlus phones also offer 80W wired charging, with the OnePlus 15 reaching 81% after charging for 30 minutes, while the 15R manages 55%. Sadly, the OnePlus 15R, as with all the R-series phones, doesn’t offer wireless charging. However, the OnePlus 15 has a very solid 50W wireless speed.
Motorola G (2026): Affordable longevity
Motorola G phones: Affordable longevity
By now, Motorola has established itself as the phone maker to turn to when you want long-lasting devices that don’t break the bank. The Moto G (2026) is the latest and best example of this.
For less than $200, you get a phone that lasted more than 19 hours on our battery test. That’s an improvement upon the 2025 model, which was among the longest-lasting phones we tested in 2024.
A $199 phone requires trade-offs, and you’ll make those if you opt for the Moto G, as the display brightness and chipset performance underwhelm. But if you’re on a budget and want a phone that lasts all day, the stylish-looking Moto G has a lot going for it. And if you’d like to spend even less on your phone, the $179 Moto G Play (2026) turned in a battery test time of 18 hours and 45 minutes,
A good year for long-lasting iPhones
Apple can argue that the batch of iPhone models it released in the fall is the best ever when it comes to battery life. The iPhone 17 Pro Max led the charge, lasting 17 hours and 50 minutes to become the longest-lasting iPhone ever. That topped the previous pace-setter, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, by more than half and hour.
The iPhone 17 Pro also saw big gains in battery life this year, lasting 15.5 hours despite its more compact size putting a limit on how big a battery it can use. Even though the standard iPhone 17 continues to offer the shortest battery life of Apple’s standard flagships, the new model beat its predecessor by half-an-hour on our test.
Apple doesn’t focus on battery size, though the 5,088 mAh power pack found during teardowns of that model is bigger than the 16 Pro Max’s 4,685 mAh cell. Really, the star of the show here is the A19 Pro silicon powering the phone coupled with the new vapor chamber included in the Pro models that keeps those phones from overheating and experience slowdowns.
Other phones of note: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Because Samsung kicks off the year with its flagship phone release, it finds itself at a disadvantage when year-end lists like this are assembled. The Galaxy S phones that come out to start the year usually set the pace on battery life, only to be overtaken by models that come out in subsequent months.
That happened in 2025 with the Galaxy S25 phones, but Samsung’s current flagships still deserve some recognition. At one point, all three main flagships were among the longest-lasting phones we’ve tested, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra stands out especially by topping the 17-hour mark on an earlier version of our battery test.
We’re within a month or two of the Galaxy S26 Ultra release, and we can’t wait to see how Samsung builds on the battery life standards set by its current crop of phones.
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